Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: eleven-syllable syllabic metre

Gerçeklerin yolu çıkmaz dilinden
Sonradan sunulmaz vahdet gölünden
Kuşandığın kemer ol pir elinden
Zina olursa halin nice olur
Kimi hoşnut olmuş kendi huyuna
Ahirette çeker imiş soyuna
Koymadığın yerde âşık payına
Rızasız sunar elin nice olur
Kimi ölür kimi dünyaya gelir
Kimi talip olur isteğin bulur
Felek cellât olup üstüne gelir
Cefaya var mı kavlin nice olur
Bülbül başlar figan edip ötmeye
Sarraf olup lal ü gevher satmaya
Kul Hüseyin’im kabul dosta gitmeye
Kılavuz var mı yolun nice olur

In English

1. The road of the true ones does not come out of the tongue; it is not offered afterwards from the lake of unity. The belt you girded on is from that pir's hand; if adultery occurs, how will your state be.

2. Some are pleased with their own nature; it seems that in the hereafter one is drawn back to one's stock. Where you have not set down the lover's share, how will your hand be that offers without consent.

3. Some die, some come into the world; some become seekers and find their desire. Fate turns executioner and comes upon you; have you a word to give to suffering, how will your word be.

4. The nightingale begins to lament and sing; to become a jeweller and sell rubies and gems. Kul Hüseyin is willing to go to the Friend; is there a guide, how will your road be.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

Each of the four quatrains ends in a worry: the last lines carry the redif "nice olur" (how will it be) ("halin nice olur, elin nice olur, kavlin nice olur, yolun nice olur"). The first three lines rhyme as "dilinden, gölünden, elinden", "huyuna, soyuna, payına", "gelir, bulur, gelir", "ötmeye, satmaya, gitmeye". The metre is the eleven-syllable syllabic measure; Işık classes the text as a nefes and a nasihatname. The pen name (mahlas) "Kul Hüseyin'im" is in the closing quatrain. The informant is Halil Sezgin.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Through questions the poem recalls the responsibility of one who has entered the path. The first quatrain says that the road of the true ones, the saints, is not walked by words and is not offered afterwards from the lake of unity; the belt a person girds on, the symbol of entry into the path, is from the pir's hand. It asks how it will go with one who, despite this belt and the pledge he has given, turns to what is forbidden. In Alevi-Bektashi ethics "mastering one's hand, tongue and loins" is among the basic conditions of the path, and this quatrain points plainly to the third of them.

In the second quatrain the concept of consent (rıza) comes to the fore: it asks what is due to the hand that does not give the lover his share and offers without consent. Consent is a basic principle of the Alevi cem worship and of community life; the food offered in the cem and the service given too must rest on consent. The third quatrain describes the transience of the world and fate coming upon a person like an executioner. In the final quatrain the poet says he is willing to go to the Friend but recalls that the road requires a guide; on the Alevi path this guide is the rehber and the mürşid.

Bibliography

Online sources